


The Gang Gets Complicated

by Zenigen



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Asexual Character, Catholic Guilt, Dysfunctional Relationships, Emotionally Repressed, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, the dirty one and the gay one are in love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-17 03:35:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10585590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zenigen/pseuds/Zenigen
Summary: Spin-off from "Mac and Dennis Break Up" - in which Mac and Dennis actually break up.





	1. Mac and Dennis Break Up For Real

**Author's Note:**

> Preemptively tagging stuff in case of triggering content and tentative plans.
> 
> A special thank you to mallfacee for converting me to It's Always Sunny trash and those white trash boys for galvanizing the process.

"Okay, all right, okay... Oh my god. You know what, fine; I don't care anymore. Guess what. You know what, neither one of you are ever going into my apartment ever again, so you know what - make up, don't make up, kill each other - I don't care. I need to go get a bird." And then Dee stormed off to get a bird. 

Dennis and Mac stubbornly refused to make eye contact, neither wanting to be the one to cave into what was clearly Dee trying to play them. That's why they were in this situation in the first place, and they were better than letting her get the best of them a second time. Codependency. Whatever. 

Dennis wiped the water from his face, insisting focus on the fancy, folded napkin in front of him. "She's definitely trying to play us." 

Mac broke, shifting his gaze back to Dennis. "Yeah, totally. She just wants to- to-"

"To take credit for rekindling our friendship." Dennis stated, finishing Mac's sentence without skipping a beat and without looking up.

"Yeah, that. Definitely dude." 

"And we're better than that." 

"Yeah." 

Mac kept looking to Dennis, earnestly awaiting a reciprocal acknowledgement, but the wait only dragged out the silence. 

Mac spoke up, "But, uh... I can move back in, right?" 

Dennis was stalwart in his stare-down with the napkin. "Look man." He shifted to the silverware. "Maybe we should... Keep this setup a little longer, and by setup I mean you staying with Charlie. You know, just to make the rekindling more organic." 

Mac laughed off Dennis' dejected tone. "Yeah, of course. I was just testing you, dude. If we did the rekindling thing now it'd be, uh-" 

"Tainted, obviously. Because of Dee." 

"Right, man." 

Mac's smile faded, his hands fidgeting with his own napkin. He grimaced the thought of having to share that tiny, dirty futon with Frank and Charlie. Hopefully he could convince Frank to do the closet thing. The chatter made by the rest of the restaurant snapped him back to reality. He looked around. People were starting to gawk. 

"We'll still see each other at the bar." Dennis offered, finally giving a half-hearted glance to Mac. 

Mac's eyes lit up a bit. "Of course dude. Hey, did you still want to watch-" 

"Hello, gentlemen. If you're both done here, I think it's time you paid and left." 

Dennis furrowed his brow in confusion at what he presumed was a waiter, like when a girl calls him out for manipulating them. He looked to Mac and then back to the waiter. "But we didn't order anything," he said.

Mac engulfed his cup with both his hands, took a sip, and then put his napkin over it in an attempt to hide it. 

"Actually sir, your friend here did." 

"Just a rum and coke," Mac peeped. 

"Six rum and cokes," the waiter interjected with professional aggression. "And your presence is upsetting the atmosphere, so if you'd be so kind as to clear the bill and leave, it would be appreciated." 

Mac shifted uneasily. "Uh, I don't have any money," he said, shooting Dennis a pleading look. 

Dennis motioned to get his wallet, but stopped. If he paid for Mac now, then he would probably cave into letting him move back within the next hour, and he wouldn’t let Dee have that (as this was obviously about Dee). He returned to his study of the napkin. “Uh, sorry man. I don’t have anything on me.”

The waiter dropped the professional affect for blatant. “So I’m to understand that you won’t be paying for your drinks.”

Mac tossed a weak smile and shrug to the notably unamused waiter.

\------

“Bro, watch the blazer!” Mac spun around to face who just threw him out, feigning a fight-stance with a foot to the side, ready to sprint away if the security showed signs of following up the shove. His glare unsettled Mac. The dude couldn’t have been taller than five foot eight.

He hardly gave Mac the effort of a grunt and turned back into the restaurant, bumping into Dennis on the way in. 

“Dude, this is bullshit. They can’t ban me over a couple of drinks. That’s like gotta be illegal or something,” Mac pouted as he fixed his collar. “Do you actually not have any money?” 

“Yeah man, I forgot my wallet. I thought the big breasted lady was going to pay for the meal.” 

“Really? I thought the same thing,” Mac chuckled, patting Dennis on the shoulder. Dennis stepped away.

“Heh, yeah,” Dennis said, twiddling with his feet. An uncomfortable silence settled over them. He coughed and threw a glance over to his car. “Well uh, I should get going.”

“Oh, can I catch a ride with you?” 

Dennis took a breath in. “I mean I would, but Charlie lives over there, and I live - well you know.”

“Oh, okay. That’s cool dude.” Mac’s face fell inwardly. He wasn't sure how to respond. “Well, uh, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, tomorrow.” Dennis gave him a quick wave before he moved to his car. 

“Okay.” Mac did a double take down the sidewalk and back to Dennis. “Hey did you still-”

Dennis slammed the door to his Range Rover and drove off before Mac could finish his sentence. He paced in a small circle like a lost puppy, watching Dennis’ car turn off in the distance. He did another take at the restaurant, wishing he was in that car that just turned off. Whatever. He could do this. He didn't need Dennis, and he was going to be just fine. He began the walk to Charlie’s, turning into an alleyway he knew would be quicker than the streets. Yeah, he could do this. 

“Hey!” Some tweaker shouted at him. Mac looked around. The alleyway was flush to flush walls. Where did he even come from? “Gimme your cash.”

Mac sighed, staring at the shiv his assailant was holding. He could do this.


	2. Cat's Out of the Bag

“I’m telling you man, if we got just a few more cats we would’ve been good. You need an even number of cats to-” Charlie halted his dissertation on the complexities of cat-mechanics to Frank when he saw a disgruntled, sweaty Mac sitting in front of his door. Shit. Maybe the apple seeds killed Dennis. 

“Mac?” Charlie called out to him. 

Mac quickly stood up. “Oh, hey guys. The door’s locked for some reason.” He was trying to hide the terseness in his voice. 

“Yeah,” Frank explained while unlocking the door, “a Vietnamese guy down the hall was eyeing us when we left. Didn't want him breaking in and getting the goods. I've already lost too much to those people.” The moment he opened the door about a dozen cats ran out. “What happened to you? You look like shit.” 

“Ah, I got into a fight with a couple of dicks harping on some chick. I was beating on them so hard they ran off. I had to chase ‘em down to get her purse back - that’s why I'm so sweaty. It was pretty badass actually,” Mac attempted to boast. 

“Well what happened with the chick?” Frank asked, walking into the apartment.

Mac trailed behind, Charlie studying his movements. “Oh well, you know, she was all over me after that, but I was so tired after kicking their asses I had to let her down.”

Frank didn’t really believe the whole deal - and Mac could hardly sell the lie to himself - but he didn’t really care either way so he bought the general idea. “Yeah, okay whatever,” he said in dismissal.

Charlie didn’t believe him either, but something was definitely up. This was more than just another one of Mac’s faux-bravados. Mac passed well enough for Frank, but there was some real anxiety in his eyes that Charlie had rarely seen. Mostly back when they were kids, and Mac would sleepover and talk about his dad being in prison. He suddenly wasn't that pissed about the plastic covering on the futon. 

“So,” Charlie was hesitant to tease out the reason, “what happened with Dennis?” 

Mac spun around to face him. “Huh? What about him?” he asked, his defensiveness slipping through.

“Dee said she was setting you guys up to talk or something.”

Mac’s face flashed with forlornness before he covered it up with a smile. “Oh yeah, that. Yeah we talked about the whole living together thing and decided - mutually of course - that I should stay here for a while with you guys.” Charlie still wasn’t buying it.

“Huh, no shit?” Frank interjected. “I thought you two would-a made up.” Mac flinched. “Well, if you’re sticking around you gotta loosen up your style a bit, because this cleanliness is nice, but I can’t find dick,” he said, taking some meat out of the refrigerator and biting into it. “Actually this is great. We can make this a real bachelor pad now with the three of us. Great things always come in threes.” He moved to the door. “Let’s go to a strip club and pick up a couple of skirts to properly christen this transition.” 

Mac began to respond with a stutter, but Charlie quickly picked up his line, “I don’t know man; I’m pretty exhausted after dealing with all those cats.”

“Nonsense, it's still early. I had to deal with those cats just as much as you,” Frank said, motioning them to the door. “Come on, let’s go.”

Charlie didn’t care to go out to some strip club, but he knew he wasn’t going to be able to convince Frank; they had dealt with a lot of cats today, so Frank probably felt he needed some award. “Okay man, but you go ahead,” Charlie said. More importantly, he knew whatever was up with Mac must have been pretty serious; Mac would've jumped at the opportunity otherwise. “Mac and I are going to make sure those cats didn’t get into our cat food or anything else.”

“Good point. All right,” Frank turned and began to walk out. “If there’s none left for you two, don't blame me.” 

Charlie nodded rapidly and gave Frank a wave. As Frank shut the door, Charlie turned to look at Mac, who was glancing at Charlie from the corner of his eye. Mac spoke softly. “I put the cat food in the closet. It’s safe.”

Charlie waved his statement out of the air. “Naw man, don’t worry about that.” He still didn’t want to directly say it, but he didn’t know any alternative. “Come on, what’s up with you dude? You’re acting all weird and shit.” 

Mac tried to chuckle his defensiveness off. “Hah, what do you mean bro?” He kicked towards the wall, putting his hands in his pocket. “I’m honestly just tired. Those dudes were pretty fast.” Through his grin, Mac’s eyes were subconsciously asking Charlie to drop it. 

Charlie paused. He wanted to know, but not stressing Mac out took precedence. “All right,” Charlie said. Mac nodded at him before looking away, the expression on his face gradually became despondent. Charlie needed to do something. “So, uh,” he started, “I guess you and Dennis aren't watching a movie or anything tonight.” 

Mac’s face tensely softened. “No.” 

Charlie looked to his feet and then back up at Mac “You still want to watch it?” He suggested. For the first time since the restaurant, Mac’s face forgot the night’s events. Charlie continued, “Dennis left the movie over at Dee’s. We could head over there. You know, if you want.”

Mac thought it over a bit. “Yeah bro, let’s do it.” His face held genuine happiness for a moment, fading a bit after remembering the context of why he was originally watching anything tonight. “What about Frank?”

“It’s cool man, trust me,” Charlie began matter-of-factly. “He’s not coming back until three uh’clock at least.” Truthfully, Charlie wasn't worried about neglecting Frank, but he was still worried about Mac. “I got some glue, too,” he offered. Charlie was starting to feel anxious himself, caught in a limbo of kind of helping but not really helping with whatever was bothering Mac.

Mac hesitated before something seemingly clicked in his head. “Okay, bring it. I’m down dude.” 

Charlie nodded. It’d been awhile since they’d huffed anything together; Charlie was used to going solo. The thought bothered him a little, but the feeling didn't last long. He went to grab the glue from the cabinet underneath the TV. “Let’s move out!” Charlie declared. It’d been awhile since they'd done anything alone together, actually. Weird. 

They left the apartment and walked down the hall, Mac trying to forget whatever this day was and Charlie finding himself holding onto it. Charlie clutched onto plastic bag that contained the glue. Things definitely felt weird. Maybe it would make more sense tomorrow.


End file.
